About the Cover

Wolves and other predators may not find this Great Pyrenees pup too menacing at the moment, but once grown he may stand watch over cattle on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A growing number of pasture-based farmers are turning to this centuries-old dog breed as a way to protect livestock without resorting to lethal predator control. On page 6, Dr. Tom Gehring of Central Michigan University talks about how his AWI-sponsored studies in the field with livestock protection dogs have made believers out of some Upper Peninsula farmers. In North Carolina, Dawn and Stephen Robertson use Great Pyrenees to watch over the sheep on their Animal Welfare Approved East Fork Farm (see page 8).